The so-called Curse of Superman has struck again ‘ this time for the makers of the DVD for new blockbuster Superman Returns.

One tumbled down stairs, another was mugged and beaten up and a third smashed into a glass window.

Bryan Singer, the director of the new film which opens in cinemas tomorrow, said: ‘My DVD crew absorbed the curse for us.

‘ The ‘curse’ began in 1959 when George Reeves, one of the first actors to play Superman, shot himself in the head. The best known Superman, Christopher Reeve, was paralysed in a riding accident in 1995 and died nine years later.

Margot Kidder, who starred with Reeve as Lois Lane had a mental breakdown. However, Brandon Routh, who plays the man of steel in the new film, said he had no anxieties about the curse.

He said he would be happy to continue in the role ‘as long as I can keep the character true’.